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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Legion of Everblight Archangel and you: Part 1

There are many guesses floating around as to what the Archangel's stats are going to be. With that in mind and knowing approximately what they should be, I thought I would take a little time to think about how the Archangel (AA from here on out) is going to interact with the various Legion casters. Their spells, their feats, their play styles.

Absylonia - Regardless of whether the archangel's stats are good or not, you will see a lot of people playing it with Abby. Forced Evolution is just too good to not put on the AA. Along with her feat, which means you either have to kill it in one turn or have to deal with a fresh AA a second time. Also, Abby loves her beasts and the biggest, baddest beast of course deserves a spot in her lists. Abby has also seen a boost in the meta due to Blight field shutting down the slower colossals/gargantuans, so you can't really go wrong with this pairing. This is also what I'll be playing for sure.
The only question is what to bring with the AA? Carnivean for spiny growth? Shredder for sure. I don't know if he will need help hitting, but with the supposed 4 attacks he is getting... he should be able to put down most opposing huge bases.

More After the jump

Bethayne - Beth has some interesting interactions with AA that I don't think are immediately obvious. Besides the potential of carnivore buffing his MAT, her spell list actually helps the AA quite a bit. Sure, he can't gain concealment, but ashen veil still gives living models -2 to hit when in his melee range. He can't be placed, but other models can be pulled into his charge range, making gallows still the best spell in the game. He also makes a good primary target for eruption of spines to spike off of as pow10 is not likely to hurt him.
We don't know what his animus is yet, but both the Mountain King and the Woldwrath have really good ones, so her feat will save him some fury. Also, he fits into her tier list quite nicely and will benefit quite a bit from free charges. 1 fury on the AA is worth a P+S19 with consume. That's pretty good from what I've seen.
As far as Beth's play style goes, that's where the AA kind of falls off. Beth really wants as many magic casting guys as she can fit and the AA is at least 18 points. That's two full squads of hex hunters! But I think it might be worth exploring in the tier list as it gives her a big mean target that people have to deal with, which lets your squishier targets get up close where they need to be.

Kallus - Disclaimer! I've never played or seen anyone play Kallus so this is purely conjecture from reading his stat card.
The only thing I can see that will synergize between the AA and Kallus is Dark Guidance. While that is pretty awesome, I don't think it's worth the points in his lists. His feat does nothing for the AA and his other spells do nothing for him. I would pass on this combination.

pLylyth - This is actually a pretty interesting combo. Lylyth can give the AA free charges with blood lure, can help the AA do damage with parasite, and her feat is aptly named when combined with him. Pretty much everything she does will help the AA take down a big target. You may run into problems dealing with an excessive amount of infantry, but that's what the rest of your army is for. I actually may look into grabbing pLylyth when the AA comes out just to try this. It's pretty much the epitome of 'sic em, doggie!'
The AA also fits into her tier list, which looks like everything she would take anyway, so that's another option to use him.

eLylyth - Depending on the veracity of the rumors, the AA is supposed to have some sort of ranged weapon. If that's true, then he may fit into eLylyth's schemes. If not, then there's no reason to take him here. Let's assume he does...
Her feat boosts the range of his shots and gives him a free one. I don't know if it's ever going to be worth taking the shots over trying to get into melee though. It's kind of similar to the Angelius in this way. The only other benefit she gives him is pin cushion, but again without knowing the ranged weapons statistics, it may not be worth shooting over melee.
Her tier list is a bit interesting as if you go full tier 4, the AA will have a bit of a movement advantage. But I don't think her tier list is to her strengths and you will want to take more raptors imo.

Rhyas - Rhyas is kind of awesome with AA. He makes pretty much the best meat shield in legion. She can acrobatics through him and then sprint back behind him. Letting her get in the mix, yet remain safe behind your big beasty.
Unfortunately Dash doesn't do anything for the AA, but Rapport sure does. MAT 8 ensures that he will be hitting most stuff on low dice. Leaving your fury for damage boosts and ensuring you get your chain attack off. And while AA can't do any backflips during her feat, it does get an additional bite at MAT 8 which is nothing to sneeze at. With her fury of 5, you will want to keep the AA pretty close, but as I said you will want to do that anyway.
Her tier list doesn't really care one way or another about AA, but I think this caster/beast combo is a winner. He basically helps Rhyas do everything she wants to do but better. True, you can't slingshot the AA as you can other heavies, but I don't think you really need to.